NATION OF ISLAM

The ' Nation of Islam' ('NOI') is a religious and social/political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the black men and women of America and the rest of the world.
Louis Farrakhan is currently the leader of a reconstituted Nation of Islam, the original organization having been renamed and eventually dissolved by Warith Deen Muhammad. The Nation of Islam's ''National Center'' and headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois and houses its flagship Mosque No. 2, Mosque Maryam in dedication to Mary, mother of Jesus.

History

Main articles: History of the Nation of Islam

The original Nation of Islam was founded in the U.S. in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad also known as Master W. D. Fard Muhammad (1877, 1891 or 1893–1934 or later), whom the Nation of Islam believes to be the long-awaited "Messiah" of the Christians and the Mahdi of the both the Sunni and Shia Muslims. One of Fard's first disciples was Elijah Poole, whose name Fard later changed to Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975). Elijah Muhammad began preaching that W.F. Muhammad was literally God in person. This was emphasied in his book, 'Message to the Blackman in America':

★ ''"Allah (God) came to us from the Holy City Mecca, Arabia, in 1930. He used the name Wallace D. Fard, often signing it W.D. Fard. In the third year (1933), He signed His name W.F. Muhammad, which stands for Wallace Fard Muhammad. He came alone. He began teaching us the knowledge of ourselves, of God and the devil, of the measurement of the earth, of other planets, and of the civilizations of some of the planets other than earth."''
The organization came to national prominence in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, due to many factors, including nationally televised reports such as ''The Hate That Hate Produced'' by then-CBS reporter Mike Wallace; grassroots organizing efforts by dozens of NOI Ministers throughout the country; the notoriety of speeches by Elijah Muhammad's then-national spokesman, Malcolm X; and the controversy around its most famous member at the time, Muhammad Ali.
One day after Elijah Muhammad's death in February 1975, the succession of his son Wallace was approved unanimously during the annual Saviors' Day celebrations on February 26. Wallace Muhammad had been suspended from the Nation of Islam for "dissident views" and ideological rifts with his father over religious doctrine, but had been restored to the organization by 1974. When W.D. (Wallace) Muhammad was installed as Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam in 1975, he immediately began to reformulate his father's beliefs and practices to bring the Nation of Islam closer to mainstream Sunni Islam.
In 1978, after wrestling with the changes and consequent dismantling of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan and his supporters decided to rebuild the original Nation of Islam upon the foundation established by W. Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad. In 1981, Farrakhan publicly announced the restoration of the Nation of Islam and went forward with Elijah Muhammad's teachings. In 1995 Farrakhan convened what his followers say was the largest march in U.S. history, the Million Man March.
Marking 70 years since the Nation of Islam was founded in America, in 2000 Imam Warith Deen Muhammad (formerly Wallace Muhammad) and Minister Louis Farrakhan publicly embraced and declared unity and reconciliation at the annual Saviors' Day convention.

Beliefs and theology

Main articles: Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam

The main belief of The Nation of Islam and its followers is that there is no God but Allah. However, they redefine "Allah" by saying "who came in the person of W. D. Fard." Fard was the Moorish Temple representative who founded the Nation of Islam that was then adopted by Elijah Muhammad. Their teachings are heretical by traditional Islamic standards which abhor the deification of any person, or the anthropomorphization of God.
The Nation prays five times a day, like Muslims of Sunni and Shia schools of thought.
The official beliefs of the Nation of Islam have been outlined in books, documents, and articles published by the organization as well as speeches by Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and other ministers. These include inflammatory statements as well as the pejorative use of the term “white devils” to refer to white people. Many of Elijah Muhammad's teachings may be found in ''Message to the Blackman in America'' and ''The True History of Jesus as Taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad'' ^[1]. Many of Malcolm X's teachings of NOI theology are in his ''The End of White World Supremacy'', while a later more critical discussion of those beliefs can be found in ''The Autobiography of Malcolm X'', co-written with Alex Haley.
Passed down via written lessons from 1930-1934 from W. Fard Muhammad to his student, Elijah Muhammad, referred to and titled, ''The Supreme Wisdom'' the Nation of Islam continues to teach its followers that the present world society is segmented into three distinct categories. They teach that from a general perspective, 85% of the world's people of all races and faiths are the ''deaf, dumb and blind'' masses of the people who ''are easily led in the wrong direction and hard to lead in the right direction''. These 85% of the masses are said to be manipulated by 10% of the people who are referred to as ''the rich slave-makers'' of the masses of the people. Those 10% rich ''slave-makers'' are said to manipulate the 85% masses of the people through ignorance, the skillful use of religious doctrine and the mass media.
The third group referred to as the 5% ''poor righteous teachers'' of the people of the world who know the truth of the manipulation of the 85% masses of the people by the 10% and that 5% ''righteous teachers'' are at constant struggle and war with 10% to reach and ''free the minds'' of the masses of the people. ^[2]
The official platform of beliefs as stated by Elijah Muhammad in ''Message to the Blackman in America'' published in 1965 are as follows verbatim^[3]:
1. We want freedom. We want a full and complete freedom.
2. We want justice. Equal justice under the law. We want justice applied equally to all regardless of creed, class or color.
3. We want equality of opportunity. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized society.
4. We want our people in America whose parents or grandparents were descendants from slaves to be allowed, to establish separate state or territory of their own -- either on this continent or elsewhere. We believe that our former slave-masters are obligated to provide such land and that the area must be fertile and minerally rich. We believe that our former slave-masters are obligated to maintain and supply our needs in this separate territory for the next 20 or 25 years until we are able to produce and supply our own needs. Since we cannot get along with them in peace and equality after giving them 400 years of our sweat and blood and receiving in return some of the worst treatment human beings have ever experienced, we believe our contributions to this land and the suffering forced upon us by white America justifies our demand for complete separation in a state or territory of our own.
5. We want freedom for all Believers of Islam now held in federal prisons. We want freedom for all black men and women now under death sentence in innumerable prisons in the North as well as the south.
We want every black man and woman to have the freedom to accept or reject being separated from the slave-masters' children and establish a land of their own.
We know that the above plan for the solution of the black and white conflict is the best and only answer to the problem between two people.
6. We want an immediate end to the police brutality and mob attacks against the so- called Negro throughout the United States.
We believe that the Federal government should intercede to see that black men and women tried in white courts receive justice in accordance with the laws of the land, or allow us to build a new nation for ourselves, dedicated to justice, freedom and liberty.
7. As long as we are not allowed to establish a state or territory of our own, we demand not only equal justice under the laws of the United States but equal employment opportunities -- NOW!
We do not believe that after 400 years of free or nearly free labor, sweat and blood, which has helped America become rich and powerful, so many thousands of black people should have to subsist on relief or charity or live in poor houses.
8. We want the government of the United States to exempt our people from ALL taxation as long as we are deprived of equal justice under the laws of the land.
9. We want equal education -- but separate schools up to 16 for boys and 18 for girls on the conditions that the girls be sent to womens' colleges and universities. We want all black children educated, taught and trained by their own teacher.
Under such school system we believe we will make a better nation of people. The United States government should provide free all necessary text books and equipment, schools and college buildings. The Muslim teachers shall be left free to teach and train their people in the way of righteousness, decency and self respect.
10. We believe that intermarriage or race mixing should be prohibited. We want the religion Islam taught without hindrance or suppression.
These are some of the things that we, the Muslims, want for our people in North America.
1. We believe in the One God Whose proper name is Allah.
2. We believe in the Holy Qur-an and the Scriptures of all the Prophets of God.
3. We believe in the truth of the Bible, but we believe that it has been tampered with and must be reinterpreted so that mankind will not be snared by the falsehoods that have been added to it.
4. We believe in Allah's Prophets and the Scriptures they brought to the people.
5. We believe in the resurrection of the dead -- not in physical resurrection but mental resurrection. We believe that the so-called Negroes are most in need of mental resurrection; therefore, they will be resurrected first.
Furthermore, we believe we are the people of God's choice as it has been written that God would choose the rejected and the despised. We can find no other persons fitting this description in these last days more than the so-called Negroes in America. We believe in the resurrection of the righteous.
6. We further believe in the judgement. We believe this first judgment will take place, as God revealed, in America.
7. We believe this is the time in history for the separation of the so-called Negroes and the so-called white Americans. We believe the black man should be freed in name as well as in fact. By this we mean that he should be freed from names imposed upon him by his former slave-masters. Names which identified him as being the slave of the slave-master. We believe that if we are free indeed, we should go in our own people's names -- the black peoples of the earth.
8. We believe in justice for all whether in God or not. We believe as others that we are due equal justice as human beings. We believe in equality - as a nation -of equals. We do not believe that we are equal with our slave-masters in the status of Freed slaves.
We recognize and respect American citizens as independent peoples, and we respect their laws which govern this nation.
9. We believe that the offer of integration is hypocritical and is made by those who are trying to deceive the black peoples into believing that their 400-year-old open enemies of freedom, justice and equality are, all of a sudden, their friends. Furthermore, we believe that such deception is intended to prevent black people from realizing that the time in history has arrived for the separation from the whites of this nation.
If the white people are truthful about their professed friendship toward the so-called Negro, they can prove it by dividing up America with their slaves.
We do not believe that America will ever be able to furnish enough jobs for her own millions of unemployed in addition to jobs for the 20,000,000 black people.
10. We believe that we who declared ourselves to be righteous Muslims should not participate in wars which take the lives of humans. We do not believe this nation should force us to take part in such wars, for we have nothing to gain from it unless America agrees to give us the necessary territory wherein we may have something to fight for.
11. We believe our women should be respected and protected as the women of other nationalities are respected and protected.
12. We believe that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930 -- the long awaited Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi of the Muslims. We believe further and lastly that Allah is God and besides HIM there is no God and He will bring about a universal government of peace wherein we can live in peace together.

Black experience of slavery was Bible prophecy

The NOI teaches that black people constitute a nation and that through the institution of the Atlantic slave trade they were systematically denied knowledge of their past history, language, culture, and religion and, in effect, lost control of their lives. Central to this doctrine, NOI theology asserts that Black people’s experience of slavery was the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and therefore, black people are the seed of Abraham referred to in the Bible, in Genesis 15:13–14:
And Acts 7:6–7:

Separatism & Segregation

In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Louis Farrakhan was asked by Tim Russert to explain the Nation of Islam's view on separation:

Teachings on race

The Nation of Islam teaches that African (Black) people were the original humans. Louis Farrakhan has stated that "White people are potential humans…they haven’t evolved yet." ^[4]
Louis Farrakhan further expounded by saying, "If you look at the human family -- now, I'm talking about black, brown, red, yellow and white -- we all seem to be frozen on a subhuman level of existence. In Islam and, I believe, in Christian theology and Jewish theology as well, there are three stages of human development. The first stage is called the animalistic stage of development. But when we submit to animal passions, then we can do evil things to one another in that animalistic stage of development. But when moral consciousness comes and we have a self-accusing spirit, it is then that we become human beings. Right now, we have the potential for humanity, but we have not reached that potential, because we are functioning on the animalistic plane of existence." ^[5]
In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Louis Farrakhan said the following in response to host Tim Russert's question on the Nation of Islam's teachings on race:
Pressed by Russert on whether he agreed with Elijah Muhammad's preaching that whites are blue-eyed devils, Farrakhan responded:
While Malcolm X was a member of the Nation of Islam, he also preached that black people were genetically superior to white people.
He later repudiated this belief, as a result of embracing orthodox Islam.

The Mother Plane

Elijah Muhammad taught his followers about a Mother Plane or Wheel, a UFO that was seen and described in the visions of the prophet Ezekiel in the Book of Ezekiel, in the Hebrew Bible.
Louis Farrakhan, commenting on his teacher's description said the following:

Criticisms

The NOI has been seen by some as attempting to be its own religion separate from Islam. The first book analyzing the Nation of Islam was ''The Black Muslims in America'' (1961) by C. Eric Lincoln. Lincoln describes how religious services use fictions and over-generalizations to indoctrinate NOI adherents.
As of 2005, the Nation of Islam was included in the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of active hate groups in the United States.^[6]

Legend of the 1975 death of Elijah Muhammad

Members of The Nation of Islam have long held that Elijah Muhammad did not die, but instead escaped a death plot, was restored to health, and is aboard “that huge wheel-like plane that is even now flying over our heads.” Among Muhammad's passengers on the Mother Wheel is the mysterious figure named W.D. Fard.

Charges of antisemitism

::''For the main article discussing the relationship between the Nation of Islam and Jews, see'' Nation of Islam and antisemitism.
A number of Jewish organizations, Christian organizations, Muslim organizations, and academics consider the Nation of Islam to be anti-Semitic. Specifically, they claim that the NOI has engaged in revisionist and antisemitic interpretations of the Holocaust and exaggerates the role of Jews in the African slave trade.^[7] The Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) alleges that NOI Health Minister, Abdul Alim Muhammad, has accused Jewish doctors of injecting Blacks with the AIDS virus,^[8] an allegation that Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad has denied.
The Nation of Islam has repeatedly denied charges of anti-Semitism,^[9] and NOI leader Minister Louis Farrakhan has stated, "The ADL .. uses the term 'anti-Semitism' to stifle all criticism of Zionism and the Zionist policies of the State of Israel and also to stifle all legitimate criticism of the errant behavior of some Jewish people toward the non-Jewish population of the earth."^[10]
Jude Wanniski, a former associate editor of The Wall Street Journal, has defended the Nation of Islam, writing, "I've met dozens of men and women who belong to the Nation of Islam, attended many of their conferences, and prayed with them in their Chicago mosque to the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. I've concluded beyond any reasonable doubt that there is not an ounce of anti-Semitism or bigotry in Farrakhan."^[11]
The Nation of Islam has had friendly relations with the Neturei Karta, a small, controversial Jewish group that is well-known for its association with and support for anti-Zionists. Neturei Karta stressed that NOI leader, "Minister Louis Farrakhan is an extraordinary force for good in the Black community. His followers are responsible, industrious, modest and moral. And for this he and they have our respect."^[12]
In a letter responding to ADL Director Abraham Foxman's insistence that black leaders distance themselves from the Nation of Islam, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons wrote, "Simply put, you are misguided, arrogant, and very disrespectful of African Americans and most importantly your statements will unintentionally or intentionally lead to a negative impression of Jews in the minds of millions of African Americans", he continued, "For over 50 years, Minister Farrakhan has labored to resurrect the downtrodden masses of African Americans up out of poverty and self-destruction" and indicated that he had personally witnessed Farrakhan affirm, 'A Muslim can not ''[sic]'' hate a Jew. We are all members of the family of Abraham and all of us should maintain dialogue and mutual respect.'" ^[13]

Comparison to traditional Islam

The Nation of Islam preaches adherence to the Five Pillars of the Islamic Faith: shahada, or Profession of Faith; ''salat'', or prayer, five times daily facing toward Mecca; ''zakat'', charity to the poor; fasting during the holy month of Ramadan; and that every Muslim who is physically and financially able must make Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in his or her lifetime. The NOI also teaches morality and personal decorum, emphasizing modesty, mutual respect, and discipline in dress and comportment. NOI adherents do not consume pork, stress a healthy diet and physical fitness, and the consumption of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco is frowned upon. In these respects, the NOI is in general agreement with traditional Islamic practices. However, the Nation of Islam argues that because of the unique experience of the oppression and degradation of slavery, Elijah Muhammad used unique methods for introducing Islam to his people.

A little mosque of Nation of Islam in Louisiana, 2005.

thumb

Other doctrines of the Nation of Islam are disputed, specifically:

★ God's incarnation

★
★ ''NOI'' teaches that "Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July 1930; the long-awaited Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi of the Muslims.

★
★ Orthodox Sunni and Shi'a Muslim doctrine is that Islam teaches that it is heretical and blasphemous to believe that God would manifest Himself in human form (or any material form).

★ Relations with whites

★
★ ''NOI'' teaches that the Black man is the original man, and from him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people. By using a special method of birth control law, the Blackman was able to produce the white race. Liking any individual(s) to God is a form of 'shirk' - a major sin in the Islam.^[14] Islam recognizes the Biblical and Qur’anic figure, the patriarch Jacob, but this Jacob is viewed by Muslims as a prophet, and is not connected to the Yakub of the ''NOI''. Traditional Islam does not teach of the Yakub featured in Nation of Islam theology.

★ Perspectives on the Quran.

★
★ The vast majority of Muslims, worldwide, believe that it was Allah's final revelation to mankind and that it was given to the Islamic prophet Muhammed between the years of 610 and 632. The NOI states that they believe in the Qur'an and the writings of all the prophets of God.^[15]

★ Status of the Islamic prophet Muhammed vs. other prophets.

★
★ Mainstream Islam teaches that Muhammad was the last of the messengers that Allah has sent to us--there would be no more, and the one for all to follow. The Nation of Islam believes that Elijah Muhammad was also a messenger and was taught by God Himself (W. D. Fard).^[16]

Actions and programs

NOI preacher in 1999, in England.

A Nation of Islam member sells copies of the Final Call newspaper and what looks to be assorted oils and perfumes.

The NOI has a do-for-self philosophy that resulted in the NOI owning and operating hundreds of businesses nationwide, employing thousands of people. The NOI has purchased and now operates food-industry services, bakeries, and restaurants. It owns a large amount of farmland in Georgia, USA. It owns and operates hair-care shops. Some of these business ventures have been success stories. Others have been criticized as Amway-style marketing schemes that have not benefited most of their employees.
The NOI has worked to clean up drug addicts, reform prostitutes, and keep black youth out of gangs. It has helped some newly released ex-convicts make a new start and stay out of jail.
In ''The Fire Next Time'', James Baldwin wrote:
:"Elijah Muhammad has been able to do what generations of welfare workers and committees and resolutions and reports and housing projects and playgrounds have failed to do: to heal and redeem drunkards and junkies, to convert people who have come out of prison and to keep them out, to make men chaste and women virtuous, and to invest both the male and the female with pride and a serenity that hang about them like an unfailing light. He has done all these things, which our Christian church has spectacularly failed to do." (James Baldwin, ''The Fire Next Time'', Vintage International, 1963)
During the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development employed several private firms run by members of the Nation of Islam to provide security in housing projects in black neighborhoods. The Anti-Defamation League was successful in lobbying congress to sever the HUD contracts.^[17]

Noted current and former members of Nation of Islam

★ Elijah Muhammad

★ Louis Farrakhan

★ Malcolm X - Later converted to mainstream Islam

★ Muhammad Ali - Later converted to mainstream Sunni Islam

★ John Allen Muhammad - "Beltway Sniper", former Gulf war veteran, former NOI member

★ Benjamin Chavis Muhammad

Audio/video webcasts

★ Saviours' Day 2007 Webcast: 'One Nation Under God' by Minister Louis Farrakhan, Feb. 25, 2007

★ Messenger Elijah Muhammad's Theology of Time Lecture Series

★ Messenger Elijah Muhammad's Classic Lectures

★ Mr. Muhammad Speaks Radio Broadcasts

★ Messenger Muhammad's Saviour's Day and other Historic Videos

★ March, 2006 Havana, Cuba Press Conference

★ Let us make man

★ BBC Video

★ May, 2004 National Press Club Press Conference (Nation of Islam's Position on Iraq and the "War on Terror")

★ Millions More Movement (FOX News Interview)

★ Nation of Islam's Position On the Murder of Malcolm X

★ Malcolm X Reloaded: Who Really Assassinated Malcolm X

References

1. Chicago: Coalition for the Remembrance of Elijah Muhammad, 1992
2. ''Assignment of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, The Supreme Wisdom'', February 20, 1934; ''Power at Last Forever'', Minister Louis Farrakhan, Madison Square Garden, New York, October, 1985
3. http://seventhfam.com/temple/books/black_man/black_man/blk74.htm ''Message to the Black Man,'' Ch. 74, What Do Muslims Want?
4. Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/18/00
5. Million Family March Transcript, 10/16/00
6. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp?T=24&m=4
7. http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~antis/papers/occasional.papers.html
8. http://www.adl.org/focus_sheets/focus_islam.asp
9. http://www.noi.org/statements/statements_press_10-07-2000.htm
10. ''The Final Call,'' February 16, 1994
11. [1]
12. [2]
13. ''Hip Hop Summit Action Network Press Release,'' May 9, 2005http://www.millionsmoremovement.com/news/russell-simmons05-09-2005.htm
14. http://www.bahagia.btinternet.co.uk/tawhid.htm#shirk
15. http://www.noi.org
16. http://www.religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/Nofislam.html.com
17. http://www.polyconomics.com/searchbase/03-03-98.html

External links

Nation of Islam Links

★ The Nation of Islam Website

★ Nation de Islam, Paris, France (Français)

★ Black Business Directory

★ Seventhfam-- Elijah Muhammad's Teachings Online

★ The Nation of Islam's Final Call Newspaper

★ The Immortal Birth Book, The Nation of Islam

★ Millions More Movement

★ NOI "Muhammad Farms" Project

Criticism from Non-NOI Muslims

★ Tawhid and Shirk: A Clear Guide to Islam

★ The Nation of Islam Exposed

★ The Nation of Islam is not Islam

★ Learn about true Islam

★ Islam or Farrakhanism: What Does the Nation of Islam Believe?

★ What the Muslims Believe

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

psst.. try this: add to faves

	Marlin Travel - Yonge Street
	Bora Bora Lagoon Resort & Spa
	Destination Greece
	JRD Travel Company
	Golf Holidays International
	MarysTravelSpot
	Grenada Board of Tourism
	Hotel Villa St Pierre
	Travelonly - Dave Corless
	Heavenly Paradise Getaways